Tag Archives: #Silent Films

Note: This is an encore post from 2005 and originally appeared on the 1947project. Sister Ollie died happy, according to her mother, Sister Sibbie, the superintendent at Sunshine Mission, 558 S. Wall St., a shelter for homeless women and children … Continue reading →

A fascinating look at what middle America saw at the movies from the 1910s through the 1950s, the 54th Annual Cinecon Classic Film Festival provided an excellent slate of films running the gamut from silents to sound, musicals to westerns, … Continue reading →

Sessue Hayakawa in Cine Mundial. Long renowned as one of the most mesmerizing, exotic actors of the silent screen, Sessue Hayakawa and his piercing eyes and sensual mouth stole women’s attentions and minds. Born in Japan, the son of aristocratic … Continue reading →

Max Linder, photo courtesy of Mary Mallory. The 21st Annual Broncho Billy Silent Film Festival traveled the world in its many programs this year, featuring rare technology, recently discovered and restored films, and travelogues from near and far, something … Continue reading →

“Dat Lovin’ Rag,” courtesy of the University of Colorado Boulder Music Library. June 19, 1947: Lottie Grady, one of the first African American actors to perform on Broadway, visits Los Angeles and is interviewed by the Sentinel. Grady performed on … Continue reading →

Martin Scorsese is presented with the first Robert Osborne Award for film preservation. In its ninth year of celebrating classic film, the 2018 TCM Classic Film Festival highlighted the written word and how film speaks to audiences through a wide … Continue reading →

Ida May Park in Photoplay. Virtually forgotten today, Los Angeles-born Ida May Park earned the distinction of being one of the first women to direct feature films in early Hollywood, as well as write and produce, before being pushed … Continue reading →

From its beginnings, the motion picture industry developed adept advertising and promotional concepts to spread the word of its film products and stars. Quick to develop cross-promotions and partnerships with magazines and newspapers, the film industry grew new fans … Continue reading →

Tsuru Aoki, in Sunset magazine. Though long in the shadow of her more well known husband, Tsuru Aoki achieved just as great a fame as Sessue Hayakawa, with a life story as fascinating as any novel. Born in Japan … Continue reading →

The Twenty Second Annual San Francisco Silent Film Festival concluded Sunday, June 4, after screening an eclectic slate of entertaining and challenging films from around the globe. The festival’s films covered a diverse variety of themes, examining exploration of … Continue reading →

For those who find it difficult to get to Bologna’s Cinema Ritrovato or Pordenone’s Le Giornate del Cinema Muto, the San Francisco Silent Film Festival, scheduled June 1-4) highlights classics of silent film the world over right here in … Continue reading →

Downtown Los Angeles in 1906, contrasting it with the destruction in the San Francisco earthquake. While romantic stories proliferate of how early independent filmmakers in the 1910s traveled to Los Angeles to escape the patents men of the Motion … Continue reading →

Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks in “The Taming of the Shrew,” photo by K.O. Rahmn, from Close Up. Probably the only actor/stills photographer in early Hollywood, K. O. (Knute Olaf) Rahmn worked for Kalem Co. at its Glendale studio … Continue reading →

A poster for “Heart of California,” courtesy of Dwight Manley. In honor of Brea, California’s Centennial Celebration, a fraction of Dwight Manley’s stunning silent motion picture poster collection is currently on exhibit in that city. Containing everything from one-sheets … Continue reading →

“American Heiress” via Amazon.com. Rush out and get Jeffrey Toobin’s new book about the Patty Hearst kidnapping, American Heiress. It’s really one of the best-written, best-researched books I’ve read lately, and is actually laugh-out-loud funny at points. I am quite … Continue reading →

A matchbook from the Wilshire Bowl, listed on EBay as Buy It Now for $9.95. Within just a few years of sound motion pictures becoming the approved film format, silent films became a virtual pariah in popular culture. They … Continue reading →

John Bengtson, who does so much amazing research into tracking down the sites where early films were shot, is giving a luncheon talk and book signing Nov. 16 at the Ebell of Los Angeles, 741 S. Lucerne Blvd. The event … Continue reading →